Shower handle sticking out too far

I have lurked on these boards for a while and it has been a lot of help. I just signed up because I have my first question. I am in the middle of remodeling my bathroom. I got a Moen shower/tub faucet kit from Lowes. It is pretty simple. Model 82496BN. Anyway, my plumber begrudgingly (he was not happy with me shopping at Lowes or Home Depot) installed it. The problem now is that the handle sticks about 2 inches from the wall plate (not sure what that piece is called). I have taken enough showers in my life to know that it does not look right. I contacted Moen who informed me that none of their products should look like that when installed properly. My plumber blames it on poor products being sold at Lowes, and the pictures on the box being deceptive. Anyway, does anyone know why this would happen with the handle sticking out that far? Is it something simple that was overlooked during the install, or is my plumber right and everything sold at Home Depot and Lowes is junk? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Aesthetically, maybe not, but it is within the limits of the valve. If you couldn't get the plate flat against the wall or there was unfinished metal showing, then it would be out of spec. It would have looked better if the valve was further back, but there is nothing technically wrong with it IMHO.

Those valves, as with most, are made to have variable depth to a degree.
Jim states it well above...as long as the flat trim plate is on the finished surface and the chrome tube covers the area between the trim plate and the handle, it's installed correctly.
As for your plumber, he has valid reason to be apprehensive.
The worst experiences we come across are merchandise, stock & fixtures purchased by the homeowner.
A great example is the LAST Glacier Bay faucet I'll ever do...customer got a kitchen faucet for less than $40 and expressed dismay with my workmanship when the faucet was flimsy.
Purchases from HD & Lowes have repeatedly proven to procure lower quality stock.
A great example is the faucets they carry, there really is a difference.
Plumbing suppliers sell very few faucets with plastic parts.
MFG's offer the box stores more "homeowner" oriented fixtures...they may look similar, but there are alot of plastic parts that are chrome plated to appear to be quality, despite having the same MFG name.

If it were installed improperly, the trim plate would not have fit against the wall, and then you would have a reason to gripe and a real problem. As it is, it is a normal installation. your real problem is that Moen makes that "clunky" handle that never looks right no matter how you install the valve.

If it were installed improperly, the trim plate would not have fit against the wall, and then you would have a reason to gripe and a real problem. As it is, it is a normal installation. your real problem is that Moen makes that "clunky" handle that never looks right no matter how you install the valve.

I guess the point is that we had a functioning bathroom... but we are having the whole thing redone for aesthetic purposes... while it may function ok, it looks bad... We are paying too much to have a bathroom that looks wrong.

My husband called Moen and they said the max it should stick out is 3/4 of an inch, but even then 1/4 of an inch is really more acceptable...

Moen told us to tell the plumber to move the valve back. Is this even possible at this point? The fiberglass walls are already up... do they need to be taken down?

If this were starting from scrach, with the walls open, you would have had more leeway with setting the valve body a little further back. If your plumber had to work through the 6" diam hole in the fibreglas, or even if he had an access at the back side, he maybe did the best he could to just get the valve in, and did not have options about location.

If this were starting from scrach, with the walls open, you would have had more leeway with setting the valve body a little further back. If your plumber had to work through the 6" diam hole in the fibreglas, or even if he had an access at the back side, he maybe did the best he could to just get the valve in, and did not have options about location.

Click to expand...

the walls were completely open... they actually reframed the whole room, so I was just under the impression that for the price tag everything would be perfect

OK, we have answered all the questions except the basic one asked in the first post: What's wrong, and is the faucet defective because it was from HD or Lowes.

1) It was just not installed correctly.
2) Moen is Moen, and it is a good brand, and with that or any brand, it does not matter where you got it. HD/Lowes do not stock faucets that stick out too far just because somehow they are cheaper.

I completely remodeled my bathroom all the way down to the studs. I also have a Moen faucet, a bit different "style" than yours, but I bet you the guts are still the same. When we put the new valve in, we put into place the fiberglass surround and removed it several times, adjusting the placement of the valve to make sure it fit correctly. (2 pc tub, it was a pain to keep adjusting it, but you can't do it after the sheetrock is in place..!)

You can see in my pic that we had to add a couple of elbows to move the valve back far enough for it to sit right on the surround wall.

(Ignore the wonderful electrical wire that was draped over the pipes - we removed this. >smile<)

It looks to me that the valve was placed too far forward in the wall cavity, which is why the handle is sticking out like it is. It should have been placed further back in the wall cavity, but now that your bathroom is done, it would be very difficult to change this without removing the surround or accessing it from the other side of the wall.

BTW, it's not directly copper to galvanized. The rest of the house is galvanized, and the shower valve is in between the two metals. From what I've read online, this is acceptable (but correct me if I am wrong.)

BTW, it's not directly copper to galvanized. The rest of the house is galvanized, and the shower valve is in between the two metals. From what I've read online, this is acceptable (but correct me if I am wrong.)

Click to expand...

It's okay to run galvanized to a brass valve.
It's more like,

why?

I just like removing all galvanized whenever the walls are open.
Galvanized makes for rusty looking water, though the rest of the house has them anyway.

My plumber just replaced an old Delta single handle shower/tub fixture and installed a Moen 82496bn. I chose this Moen because it had a spout that didn't protrude too much and a smaller shower head. The handle sticks out about 3.75 inches+ from the finished wall ( the gap between the handle cover and the wall plate is about 1 1/4 inch. It is not aesthetically pleasing at all, but I have an older house and I'm only willing to do repairs without remodeling or tearing out walls. The plumber and I didn't want to break the tile and open the wall beyond the existing 6 inch diameter opening. The wall tiles are not thick but the mudded wall behind it is about 1 inch thick. Is there any adjustment that can be made to reduce the gap? Thanks to everyone for all the information. Jim's link to the Moen specification website was very helpful as well as Terry's information on Moen's tolerance for installation.